July 15, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
Singapore Banks to Phase Out OTPs for Online Logins Within 3 Months
Singapore banks phase out OTPs for online logins to combat phishing. Digital tokens to become mandatory within 3 months.
September 18, 2018 | International, Naval
After Pacific tour, Navy’s No. 2 talks readiness, staying ahead of competition
By CAITLIN DOORNBOS | STARS AND STRIPES
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran heard right from the source how the Navy's largest foreign command is keeping up with readiness challenges, including a significant maintenance backlog and an ever-increasing competition landscape.
Moran — the service's second-highest ranking officer — visited Navy bases in South Korea and Japan last week on a listening tour that he said brought helpful insight into on-the-ground operations in the Pacific.
“We in Washington have our own views about things and it's largely programmatic in nature, budgetary in nature and some policy,” he told Stars and Stripes in an interview Thursday. “But to get feedback from sailors, commanding officers, chiefs and master chiefs in the fleet really helps us refine and make sure that we're supporting from Washington what they need [in the Pacific].”
Readiness challenges
At Yokosuka on Thursday, Moran spent time on the waterfront discussing ship maintenance. The base is home to U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility Japan Regional Maintenance Center, which is working on what Moran called a “not insignificant” backlog. A request for exact numbers on that backlog went unanswered.
The 7th Fleet is operating with fewer ships than it had planned after two of its guided-missile destroyers — the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain — were severely damaged in separate fatal collisions at sea last year.
While Yokosuka added an additional destroyer — the USS Milius — earlier this year, the fleet remains down two operational ships because Milius was originally intended to be an additional ship in support of Indo-Pacific operations, former Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Scott Swift told Stars and Stripes last year.
Moran said the McCain, which is being repaired in Yokosuka, is expected to get out of drydock this fall and the Navy is aiming to have it underway in the spring. The Fitzgerald is undergoing maintenance in Pascagoula, Miss., and the service has said the goal is to return it to sea by 2020.
Moran said ship maintenance “is a key critical element for overall fleet readiness.”
“Everybody recognizes that we've got to do the maintenance that's built up over time. While that's important to everybody, no one likes to be in the yards,” Moran said. “There's a cost of doing that right now and we have to re-baseline the maintenance of our ships across the fleet, particularly [in the Pacific] because it is so active, it has been a very busy place for a long time.”
On Sept. 12, Moran and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith toured Yokosuka's USS Blue Ridge, which has been undergoing maintenance for about two years. Crews first re-lit the boilers on the Navy's oldest commissioned operational ship in June, and Moran said the 7th Fleet's flagship is “about ready to go to sea.”
“She's outfitted like an old ‘57 Chevy that we've took the engine out, took the dashboard out and put all modern capability in, and man, she sounds and she's going to run kind of nice,” Moran said.
The Blue Ridge's staff moved back onto the ship this summer.
Capt. Brett Crozier, the Blue Ridge's commander, said it was an honor to host Moran.
Full article: https://www.stripes.com/news/after-pacific-tour-navy-s-no-2-talks-readiness-staying-ahead-of-competition-1.547999
On the same subject
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June 2, 2020 | International, Land
BAE successfully tests ground-launched APKWS rockets for first time
By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — BAE Systems has completed a successful ground-to-ground test of its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System rocket for the first time, the company announced Monday. The test, conducted at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, involved “several successful shots” of the APKWS rockets out of a launcher, built specifically for ground vehicles by Arnold Defense, according to BAE. The weapon has traditionally been launched from rotary or fixed-wing aircraft. A ground-based APKWS, delivered via the Arnold Fletcher launcher, was first unveiled in 2018. “Demand is growing for ground-to-ground precision munitions that provide a safe standoff distance for small ground units,” Greg Procopio, director of precision guidance and sensing solutions at BAE Systems, said in a statement. “We're working closely with our customer and partners to deliver that capability.” The APKWS laser-guided rocket is used by the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The Navy holds the program of record. The rockets have also spread via foreign military sales to more than a dozen foreign nations. However, the U.S. Army decided to end procurement of the rockets as a result of its “night court” budget review. In its fiscal 2021 budget request, the service said it redirected $122 million in funding from the rockets toward higher priorities. Even before the Army's decision was official, BAE was working to increase the flexibility of APKWS as a low-cost, precision-strike option. Late last year, the Air Force successfully tested it for missile defense, and the ground-to-ground version would add to the military options for the weapon. The company delivered more than 35,000 APKWS units by the end of 2019 and expects to deliver 18,000 in 2020. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/06/01/bae-successfully-tests-ground-launched-apkws-rockets-for-first-time/
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November 15, 2023 | International, Aerospace
Central Europe's defence companies spy African opportunity | Reuters
Central European defence companies are negotiating new deals to sell more weapons, military equipment and related services in Africa as they seek to poach customers looking for alternatives to Russia, companies and government officials say.